Citygritty — Pune

Turbine to the rescueWe are aware that our natural resources are depleting every moment. Yet, how many of us actually do something about ...

Turbine to the rescue
We are aware that our natural resources are depleting every moment. Yet, how many of us actually do something about it? Clover Builders, though, seem to have taken pro-active measures towards conserving our diminishing resources.

After the success of solar energy installations at Clover Village at Wanowrie, Clover’s Raj Bhansali has taken the use of non-conventional energy sources further. At his new project at Kondhwa, Clover Hills, he has installed wind turbines that generate power for lighting up the sodium vapour street lamps and the gardens.

Says he, “Clover Hills has the advantage of being at a height, with a lot of wind blowing around, so I thought why not harness this energy for our benefit? I have used these wind turbines to generate power for the external areas alone, since homes need the more dependable, though expensive, electricity.” Now, not only will residents of Clover Hills pay less to the electricity board, but Mother Earth will also heave a huge sigh of relief.

Advocating change
With the citizen’s movement gaining ground, advocacy has become all the more relevant. It is all very well to be aware of your rights and protest against irregularities, but to achieve one’s goals, more is needed than just a sense of justice and concern. This is where the National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS) comes in.

The NCAS, a social change resource centre actively working with social action groups, public interest professionals and citizens from all over Asia (even publishing booklets on various issues affecting our lives), has now announced an internship in advocacy , which will start in August.

The one-year course will train interested people in areas such as social ethics, human rights, economics and communication, under the guidance of experienced resource persons. And that is not all. Selected candidates will be placed with grass-root advocacy organisations for some practical experience. The course will begin in June. Interested candidates can contact NCAS by April 10.

The creative seven
Not everyone likes getting their hands dirty. But these seven women – Reshma, Rashmi, Nikki, Namrata, Gunjan, Madhavi and Suju, potters all – apparently did. The result of these efforts – Mud Ka – an exhibition of their work which will be on at Creative Club, Range Hills corner, on April 10 and 11 between 10.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. and 4.00 and 9.00 p.m. The display will then shift to Yogis Gallery, Boat Club Road, from April 15 to 17 between 11.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m.

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These women have trained under Bal Wad at the Creative Club for the last two years. The show promises to be interesting as each has developed her own distinctive style – Reshma’s flat and elongated human heads, the nature-inspired complex forms of Rashmi, Nikki’s figurines, Namrata’s coil figures, the glazed bowls of Gunjan, Madhavi’s Africa-inspired clay heads, and Suju’s three-dimensional dabblings in clay.